Infant carrier



June 27, 1967 v c. M. ABRAM 3,327,914

INFANT CARRIER Filed May 25, 1966 INVENTOR. Con/sum M. 439444 United States Patent 3,327,914 INFANT CARRIER Constance M. Abram, 4077 Hubbard Ave. N., Minneapolis, Minn. 55422 Filed May 25, 1966, Ser. No. 552,794 fi Claims. (Cl. 224--6) This invention relates to the field of shoulder supported carriers and more particularly to a sling type support for carrying an infant by an adult person.

Generally speaking, carriers for supporting an infant have been available which are similar to the type used in automobiles. That is, some form of stiffening material or metal ring is used to provide a support through which the infants legs are inserted and a stiffening material is used in the seat portion. Other infant carriers are shaped like a vest and worn by the adult with attendant parts being folded back to support the infant. This type of arrangement is quite cumbersome in its use and generally supports the infant so that the infants body extends upwardly across the chest towards the shoulder of the adult person.

All of the carriers which require the infant to straddle a crotch portion of the carrier with its legs extending through the opening subject the infant to chafiing of the legs which is obviously undesirable.

The present invention makes use of a sling arrangement in which the baby or infant may be moved to different positions without the carrier shifting back to some common position. The baby may be placed in the carrier and assume different positions so that the baby does not tire of a single position in the carrier. The carrier is constructed of material to allow it to be folded flat and carried conveniently in a womans purse or a mans pocket.

It is therefore a general object of this invention to provide a new and improved infant carrier fashioned from fabric and constructed so the the wearers hand and arms are free for other duties.

It is a more specific object of the present invention to provide a sling type arrangement for supporting an infant which tends to prevent the infant from falling therefrom.

It is still another object of this invention to provide an infant support carrier which may be fitted to the wearers body while sitting and holding the infant.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will more fully appear from the following description, made in connection with the accompany drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows the sling type support opened before securing the back edges of the carrier;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the infant support carrier shown supported by an adult wearer; and

FIG. 3 is a rear view of an infant support carrier supported over the shoulder of the adult wearer.

In FIG. 1, an infant body support carrier is fashioned from a washable fabric which may be a heavy duty nylon or canvas so that it may be easily folded to fit into a pocket or a womans purse. It has been found that good results have been obtained by making the rectangular shaped carrier 10 from a piece of material approximately 36 inches long and 26 inches wide. It may be desirable to overlap the edges thereof if additional strength is required to a light weight material. Sewn in the center of the rectangular piece 10 is a liner 11 which is generally made from a soft material such as cotton or other suitable material which has some inherent texture which would impede the slipping of another material coming in contact therewith such as plastic pants worn by infants. The material 10 is folded about a 3,327,914 Patented June 27, 1967 "ice center line 12 extending longitudinally of the rectangular material 10. The back edge 13 of the rectangular material 10 is fastened together by sewing or other suitable means so that an upstanding end is formed. Secured to edge 13 is a strap or belt 14 which may be made of the same material as the infant carrier 10 or may be fashioned from material slightly heavier. It has been found that a strap approximately 40 inches long and three inches wide is quite satisfactory. In FIG. 1, strap 14 is shown with the upper end rotated and the strap broken to show a releasable fastener 15 which is made in two sections. For this particular embodiment, a pair of Velcro fasteners were used which were approximately 7 /1 inches long and two inches wide, one section being separated from the other by three or four inches of the strap material and thus providing a portion of strap 14 where there is no releasable fastener material.

Situated at the front edge 16 of the body holding carrier fabric 10, is a strap 17 which is shown broken in FIG. 1. Strap 17 is secured to the two upper edges of the front end of the carrier 10 by sewing or other suitable means. Before sewing one end of strap 17, a loop 18 which may be made of metal or other suitable material, much like a buckle, is passed over the strap so that it may move freely between the ends of strap 17. In fact, it may be desirable to use a buckle in place of loop 18. The loop used herein, is rectangular in shape and conforms generally to the width of strap 17 which is approximately 6 /2 inches long by 3 inches wide.

The sling type support is finished by passing the end of belt 14 through loop 18 and folding strap 14 back over itself so that the Velcro fasteners engage each other. Obviously other forms of releasable fasteners may be used or eyelets may be formed in strap 14 and used with a buckle in place of loop 18.

The outside of the carrier may include a pair of pockets 20 and 21 which will hold items necessary for use with the infant. The pockets may be formed by stitching material to the outside of the body holding carrier 10.

One of the attractive features of the invention is that the person who is to wear the sling type support may be seated and place the infant in the carrier with the infants legs extending through the opening formed by end 16 of the carrier and strap 17 so that the infant may assume a sitting position. Because the carrier 10 is formed from a fabric material, it will generally tend to conform to the body of the infant and thus hold the infant in that particular position. There is also ample room in the carrier for the infant to recline with its arm or arms over the edge of the body holding carrier portion.

Thus it will be seen that a sling type support for sup porting an infant by an adult has been disclosed making use of a sling strap to transfer the weight of the infant from the parents arms to back and shoulder by the use of the adjustable strap, making it possible to comfortably carry the infant for a longer period of time and also have the wearers hands and arms free.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of my invention which consists of the matter shown and described herein and set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A sling-type support for supporting an infant by an adult, comprising:

(a) a body holding carrier of substantially rectangular heavy-duty fabric, said fabric being folded about a line extending longitudinally thereof and substantially midway between the edges of the longer dimension;

(b) fastening means securing the edges of one end of said carrier to each other to close said one end thereof;

(c) a first strap secured to the edges of the other end of said body holding carrier, having a length sufficient to allow an infants legs to extend through the opening formed thereby when such infant is placed in said body carrier and facing toward the open- (d) and a second strap secured to said one end of said body carrier and to said first strap, said second strap being adaptable to extend over the shoulder of such adult to provide support for said body holding carrier.

2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 including:

(e) a releasable strap fastener having a first portion secured to one of said first or second straps, and having a second portion cooperating with the other of said first or second straps to fit said second strap to such an adult person.

3. The invention as set forth in claim 1 including: (f) a soft cloth liner secured to the inner side of said body holding carrier having an inherent texture impeding the slipping of another material in communication therewith.

4. The invention as set forth in claim 1 including:

(g) a strap encircling loop encompassing said first strap and being freely movable over said strap between the edges of said carrier, and having said second strap secured thereto.

5. The invention as set forth in claim 4 including:

(h) releasable fastening means secured to the end of said second strap and cooperating with said strap encircling loop to fit said second strap to each such adult person.

6. The invention as set forth in claim 5 wherein said releasable fastening means includes:

a first and second portion secured to the end of said References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/1922 King 224-6 10/1936 Kimbrough 224-6 25 GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner.

F. WERNER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A SLING-TYPE SUPPORT FOR SUPPORTING AN INFANT BY AN ADULT, COMPRISING: (A) A BODY HOLDING CARRIER OF SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR HEAVY-DUTY FABRIC, SAID FABRIC BEING FOLDED ABOUT A LINE EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY THEREOF AND SUBSTANTIALLY MIDWAY BETWEEN THE EDGES OF THE LONGER DIMENSION; (B) FASTENING MEANS SECURING THE EDGES OF ONE END OF SAID CARRIER TO EACH OTHER TO CLOSE SAID ONE END THEREOF; (C) A FIRT STRAP SECURED TO THE EDGES OF THE OTHER END OF SAID BODY HOLDING CARRIER, HAVING A LENGTH SUFFICIENT TO ALLOW AN INFANTS LEGS TO EXTEND THROUGH THE OPENING FORMED THEREBY WHEN SUCH INFANT IS PLACED IN SAID BODY CARRIER AND FACING TOWARD THE OPENING; (D) AND A SECOND STRAP SECURED TO SAID ONE END OF SAID BODY CARRIER AND TO SAID FIRST STRAP, SAID SECOND STRAP BEING ADAPTABLE TO EXTEND OVER THE SHOULDER OF SUCH ADULT TO PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR SAID BODY HOLDING CARRIER. 